The Salt Flats is a taut and well-told tale about a couple heading to a mysterious retreat on the Bolivian salt flats.
It’s difficult to pin down as a specific genre. Is it a book about climate change fear (guilt about climate change eats away at main character Martha)? A thriller? A literary look at a relationship? Or something in between all of the above.
It makes for a read that feels fresh and different, but tense and uncomfortable too. Finn and Martha have a lot of issues in their relationship, and within themselves, but they’re hoping this trip will be the cure. It’s not quite as simple as that though. There are two other couples on their way to the retreat and the other big personality there is Oscar, the leader/shaman, who is both mysterious and somewhat menacing. He encourages his students to push themselves further than they want to go, until they ultimately end up in a fight for their survival.
This is where the book tips almost towards horror – because no one knows where they are. No one is expecting them back. And there are some awful choices to be made.
Definitely a book that kept me thinking long after it ended.
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